Professor Chris Exley - Keele University
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Professor Chris Exley

"You can call me Al" 

Tuesday 19th March, 2013 6pm Westminster Theatre, Chancellor's Building 

“Even my old boss at The Royal Society, Professor I Forget His Name FRS, enquired quizzically of me as to why I was bothering to research aluminium. I explained that this was actually the subject for which I was awarded my Royal Society University Research Fellowship! Oh, he replied, his dark and slightly foreboding eyes beginning to glaze over as our ‘interview’ came to an abrupt end. I am sure that he mumbled something about it (aluminium) having no biological purpose and being essentially benign as he walked away, probably convinced that I was wasting both his and my time! One of his mumbles had some substance, aluminium having no known essential biological role, but his other final utterance, purposefully beneath his breath, that aluminium had no biological reactivity was at best uninformed and more likely contrived. The biological reactivity of aluminium appears to be its best kept secret, though tell that to fish dying in acid waters or renal patients suffering dialysis encephalopathy, and indeed it is one secret which the aluminium industry is determined to keep at all costs! In this lecture I will take you on a whistle-stop tour of the natural history of aluminium and the unnatural future of living in the aluminium age.”

Professor Exley is a biologist with a PhD in the ecotoxicology of aluminium (both University of Stirling). During his PhD research he discovered a unique biochemical relationship between the elements aluminium and silicon and it is the story of the co-evolution of these two elements in biological systems which has been his life’s work to-date. Professor Exley came to Keele in 1992 with Professor JD Birchall OBE FRS to form what is now The Birchall Centre. He was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in 1994 and became Reader at Keele in 2002. Professor Exley says he has been cycling to work for more than 20 years now and his legs are starting to hurt! 

This lecture is free and open to all to attend. If you'd like to attend please confirm your attendance by contacting the events team at: events@keele.ac.uk or by calling: on 01782  734906.